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Dragon Scales
Dragon Scales is a story by this crazy gal who has been recently obsessed with coding. Allegiances The Twolegplace Rogues Prologue A thin brown dragon stared worriedly at a pool whose surface was dappled with stars. "Will dragons suvive? Dragon hunters are killing off every single one of us." "We must use our magic to prevent dragons from going extinct," announced a golden dragon. "Do not worry," announced a silver dragon with brown splotches. "We will be reborn." "How do you know, Ayantina?" the golden dragon asked. "Keall, Cyx, I know these things," pronounced the silver dragon, Ayantina. Keall and Cyx gazed at the pool, worry in their eyes. Author's Note Keall's name is pronounced call and Cyx's name is pronounced six. Chapter One Crux narrowed her eyes, focusing in on a dark gray rat hidden in the shadows of the narrow alleyway. She took a silent pawstep towards it, carefully stalking into the darkness. Her dark brown eyes focused on the easy-to-see shape in the darkness.' She pounced. The rat squealed, and then it died. She picked it up in her mouth and turned, ready to head to the center of the Twolegplace. She knew that even though she was one of the Children, she still had to do some of the most important chores that every cat had to do, even the Successor. The Laws of the Twolegplace Rogues said that the first catch of the Children and the Successor each day had to be brought to the Leader. It was their duty. "Crux," came the rough voice of a tomcat. "There you are." "Bryke," Crux replied. "What would be so important that Father would send one of the Heads to find me?" "Lord Scalesheart has a task for you," Bryke replied. "He asked for me to find you. Will you come peacefully, or will I have to use force?" "He has authorized you to bring me back by force?" Crux answered. "I thought we Children outranked you Heads." "By force," Bryke answered. "But, he did tell me specifically ''not to kill you." "So I thought," Crux replied. "Also, he told me to remind you that if you were caught eating your first catch of the day, you are not to have your next meal," Bryke added. Crux dipped her head. "Of course I would not eat my first catch of the day, Bryke. However much we Twolegplace Rogues dislike the Laws of the Twolegplace Rogues, we must obey them. You must not forget that it is snow-fall season and prey is scarce." Bryke rolled his eyes. "Enough with the formalities, Crux." "Bryke, I outrank you," Crux argued. "Just - just go," Bryke answered. "Or do you deem yourself too important to listen to the calls of Lord Scalesheart?" Crux rolled her eyes again. "Of course I don't outrank Father! Nobody outranks Father, not even Darkness." She brushed past Bryke, the tips of every hair on her pelt barely skimming Bryke. "I'm going, I'm going. Worry about other issues for once, Bryke." Chapter Two '''"There you are, Crux." A snakelike voice hissed from the shadows. Piercing yellow eyes shone from the darkness. "I was worried about you. I still am, by the way." "Fatherr," Crux groaned. "You don't need to worry about me!" "Of course I do, darling," Scalesheart crooned in a creepy way that made Crux shudder. "You are my daughter, after all." Crux groaned again. "Now, back to business. Why did you order me here?" She glanced around. "You are getting too soft, daughter," Scalesheart crooned. "Do I really need to care for you like this? It would be a disgrace for the leader of the Twolegplace Rogues to have a soft, kittypet daughter. Prove to me that you are not soft, daughter. You have one chance to do so. Will you choose to be disowned?" "Or to kill Aratuina?" Chapter Three Kill Aratuina? Crux's eyes widened in horror. Aratuina was her mother, and one of the only cats who Crux knew truly liked her, loved her. She was Copper's mother, too. Copper - Copper would be devastated if Aratuina died. He would be even more devastated if he found out that Crux had killed Aratuina. "Well?" Scalesheart asked. Crux took a deep breath in. "I will kill my mother." Chapter Four "''Gotta find her, gotta find her, gotta go find her!'' The sentence raced through Crux's mind. She had to find Aratuina. Not to kill her. But to help her escape. "Where are you going, Crux?" Mudnight sneered. "I thought you normally stayed with the Northwesters." "None of your business," Crux replied. "I have special orders from Scalesheart. He has need of Aratuina." "Aratuina?" Mudnight asked. "I thought Herb's Twoleg nest was close to the Grand Center." "Do you want me to report you to Scalesheart that you have delayed me in my mission?" Crux asked. "Do you really want to get into trouble with him?" "N-no," Mudnight stammered. "Good," Crux replied with a nasty sneer. She ambled into the marshy Southwest, looking each and every way. She only knew of five cats, not counting Aratuina and Mudnight, who lived in the Southwest, but then again, the Twolegplace Rogues' territory was large. Surely many cats didn't know that some even existed! "Hey, Crux," called a voice. Crux turned and saw a brown tabby and a dark brown tabby standing next to each other. "Kila, Doki, how's life been treating you?" "Life?" Kila asked. "Oh, we're doing fine. How're you?" "I - I need to find Aratuina," Crux answered. "Oh, and your sister Raino's doing fine. I checked in on her two or three days ago." "Aratuina, hmm..." Kila thought for a few minutes. "Nope, I haven't seen her since three moons ago when Doki somehow got infested with ticks." "It's not my fault that old rotting stump in the Twoleg park had ticks living in it!" Doki protested. Kila rolled her eyes. "But I have seen Aratuina," Doki continued. "She said she needed to find Choll for some reason. He's currently denning in the swamp nearby the border. You know, that marsh where Twolegs visit to catch frogs?" Crux nodded. "Thanks for the help, Doki," she replied, before setting off to the swamp at the border. She found Aratuina in a den with Choll with four tiny kits suckling at her belly. There was a ginger tabby she-kit, a silver tabby tomkit with golden-brown patches, a pure brown tom, and dark golden tabby she-kit with silver tabby spots. "Mama, you kitted?" Crux exclaimed. "That's great news!" Aratuina nodded. "The ginger one is Scarlet, the silver tabby with the patches is Sun Snow, the brown is Log, and the dark golden with spots is Star Rise," she announced, pointing at each kit with a paw. "Mama, I need you alone," Crux announced. Aratuina rose. Immediately, Scarlet began to wail, Log hit her back with a paw, Star Rise hung on to Aratuina and fell onto Log, and Sun Snow wailed loudly, hung onto Aratuina and fell onto Star Rise, and hit both Log and ''Scarlet with a paw. "Was ''I that feisty when I was a kit?" Crux asked. "Yes, dear," Aratuina laughed. "Mom, you have to leave the Twolegplace," Crux announced. "It's urgent." "Trying to fake Aratuina's death, I see," Scalesheart hissed. "Hm. You are soft." He walked out of the shadows. His body was covered with green scales instead of fur, and his tail was completely black, the scales gradienting darker and darker. His mouth was full of sharp fangs and his claws were larger than any average cat's claws. He was - He was - A dragon. In the shape of a cat. Chapter Five In a flash of green and black, Scalesheart fell on top of Aratuina. Caught by surprise, she batted at him. He laughed and, with a quick swipe to the throat, Aratuina fell, dead, to the ground. "Mama!" Crux exclaimed. She turned on her father. "What did you do?" "Your task," Scalesheart answered. "Now, let's pretend you did all this and that I was never here." He walked back into the shadows. Crux's deep blue eyes widened. She never realized how different her family could be from each other. Shaking, she waited until Scalesheart's scent was gone, and his pawsteps just echoes in the wind, before dragging Aratuina's body back to Choll's and Aratuina's shared den, and the kits. She found Choll and the kits, oblivious to the recent happenings. "Mama?" Scarlet asked. "Mama, wake up!" She looked up at Crux. "Cookie, why's Mama not waking up?" Crux felt a small smile tug at her lips when she heard Scarlet's attempt to pronounce her name. Cookie. That was who she was to the kits. She closed her eyes. "Mama's not going to wake up, Scarlet." "Oh," Scarlet replied, before bouncing up and exclaiming, "She's in a very very VERY DEEP SLEEP! THAT'S WHY SHE'S NOT GONNA WAKE UP! AM I RIGHT, COOKIE? AM I? I'M RIGHT, RIGHT, COOKIE?" Crux lowered her head. "No, Scarlet. She's never going to wake up again." Choll's eyes pierced Crux's. "Sh-she's dead? Did you kill her?" Crux shook her head. "No. Scalesheart did." "THEN SCALESHEART'S A BIG, FAT MEANIE!" Scarlet yelled. "Don't say things like that, Scarlet!" Choll protested. "Scalesheart has spies everywhere. There's no telling what he could do to us if he found out! Scarlet nodded and shrank back into her father's belly. Star Rise came forward and pressed her paw to Aratuina's belly. "She's not dead," she announced. "I - she can't be - wha?" Crux stammered. "I - I saw Scalesheart kill her myself!" Star Rise shook her head. "No, she's breathing, but faintly. She's lost a lot of blood, though so we need to be gentle with her." "I'll go get Starry Skies," Crux announced. "She can help." Star Rise shook her head again. "Starry Skies may be too far away. We need to treat Mama now." "But none of us know what herbs to use," Crux protested. "I know what herbs to use," Star Rise announced. "Crux, get me some cobwebs to stop the bleeding. You four!" She pointed to her siblings and Choll. "I need marigold, dock, and goldenrod. Dock has large leaves and a tangy smell. Marigold is a low-growing flower, and it's yellow to orange. Goldenrod is tall and has bright yellow flowers. Go now!" Crux nodded, and raced away, panting. She narrowed her eyes in concentration. Where do I know has lots of cobwebs? There's the Dumpsters nearby the Grand Throne, but Scalesheart might catch me if I go there. Um, um, um, yes! The hollow, rotting tree stump near the marsh! She arced her back, careful to dodge any large obstacles. Soon, she arrived back at the den with cobwebs plastered all across her body. Once all of the requested herbs were laid before her, Star Rise set to work. First she plastered cobwebs over all of the scratches and pressed to stop the bleeding, starting with Aratuina's throat wound and ending with the small thorn scratches on Aratuina's tail from the thorn bush that had been nearby. After the bleeding had stopped, she carefully took the cobwebs off of the wound. Then, she chewed up the dock leaves and spread the poultice over the wounds. She repeated the process with the goldenrod and marigold, and when she was finished, she re-plastered the cobwebs over the wounds to keep the poultices from rubbing off, to stop the bleeding, and to keep the wounds from re-opening. When she finished, she lifted her head up and announced, "This should be enough, but we must not move her until she is in a stable condition." The five other cats nodded. Crux stepped forward. "How do you know so much about herbs and how to heal, Star Rise?" she asked. "Mama was teaching me," Star Rise answered. "She knew I was gonna be the next Southwestern Healer. It was like the herbs and the medicine were my destiny." Crux nodded. "When will Mom be in a stable condition?" she asked. "When her wounds have scabbed over," Star Rise responded. "When the wounds have scabbed over, there will be less chance that she will be harmed." Crux dipped her head in respect to her younger half-sister. "You are wise, young sister. You are wise." Chapter Six The moon was high in 'the sky, but still Crux tried to be as stealthy as can be, in case there was a night watch. "Why can't I lead?" Scarlet wailed. "Because you don't know the way," Choll whispered. "Quiet, Scarlet, or we'll get caught." Aratuina weakly nodded. Her wounds had scabbed over and she could walk again, but she was weaker, probably due to blood loss. That was what Star Rise said. Crux looked both ways, checking for growl-beasts on the Beastway. Fortunately, the Beastway was silent and still, the growl-beasts sleeping silently in the large stone paths leading up to the Twoleg nests. "Watch Crux, kits," Choll whispered. "She'll show you how to cross a Beastway safely. Crux pressed one paw to the very side of the Beastway. There were no vibrations, distant or nearby. She looked both ways again before hurtling across at a violent speed. Scarlet barely glanced both ways before trying to bolt across the Beastway. Fortunately, Choll had gripped her tail in his teeth as a growl-beast ran down the Beastway. "Do you want to die at the paws of a growl-beast?" Choll hissed quietly. "Watch Star Rise. See how she does it." Star Rise looked both ways, checked for vibrations, looked both ways again, and then crossed. One by one, each of the kits crossed. After Scarlet had watched each of her siblings cross, Choll let go of her tail. She walked up to the Beastway, looked both ways, checked for vibrations, looked both ways again, and then crossed. Once she was safely on the other side, she turned around. Choll nodded proudly at her before helping Aratuina cross. They had chosen to cross at a crossplace, marked by the white striped on the Beastway, just in case. Crux had hardly realized she was holding her breath until all of the cats were across. She exhaled. ''What am I doing? she asked herself. What if we die? What if we don't make it? This is all my fault! She took a deep breath in and exhaled again. No, Crux. This is not your fault. This is Scalesheart's fault. We wouldn't be in this mess if Scalesheart hadn't tried to make me kill Aratuina, my own mother. They had reached the very edge of Twolegplace. "This is it," Crux announced. "The end of Twolegplace." One by one, they leaped across the fence. Chapter Seven '''Crux had thought she knew what freedom felt like, but she hadn't. Freedom felt like the wind against her pelt. Freedom felt like no one was watching her. Freedom felt like she could do anything, anything at all, and never get in trouble. True freedom was not something that existed in Twolegplace. Far in the distance, a Beastway extended to far out in the distance. Ugh, Crux thought. It seems that cats just can't be free from one thing - the furless. "Wow!" Scarlet was the first to say anything. "Look! No alleys for ages and ages and ages and ages and no rotfood dumps and no furless at all! We can finally be free and I CAN YELL AT THE LOUDEDEST MY VOICE CAN YELL THAT SCALESHEART IS A BIG FAT CRANKMONSTERY SNALY MEANIE!!!" Crux thought she saw a smile on Choll's face before he recollected himself. "Scarlet, you might want to be a little more careful," he warned. "We don't want to get caught. C'mon, let's run like the wind." Finally, Crux could run as fast as she wanted. Under the sun's rays, she felt leathery wings sprouting from her back, her claws growing longer. She felt herself flying.